Augusta, Georgia - History (part 5 of 17)

Upon the decadence of the tobacco plant, the cultivation of cotton engaged the attention of the agricultural community. Although as early as 1739, a bag of cotton is said to have been exported from Savannah, it was not until 1785 that the value of this product was fairly recognized in the United States. Ten years afterwards a million pounds were exported for foreign consumption. Early in the present century five hundred bales, each weighing three hundred pounds, were consumed by the home manufacturer, and forty- one million pounds went abroad to supply the needs of foreign factories. Tobacco was then supplanted by cotton, and Augusta became the market for an extensive region producing this most important article of commerce. The invention and introduction of Eli Whitney's cotton gin imparted a wonderful impulse to this industry, and conferred a benefit which cannot be overestimated. He should be generously remembered as a benefactor of his race.

In this connection we make no apology for introducing the following letter from Mr. Joseph Eve, the father of the late venerable Professor Joseph A. Eve, M.D., of this city, whose pure life and valuable ministrations are cherished in such lively recollection. The original exists among the Rush papers in the manuscript department of the Ridgway Library in Philadelphia.

" Dear Sir : - I have invented a machine for the separating of Seed from cotton, which has been in use in these islands these several years.

States for my Machines, I am induced to petition the Legislature of the United States for a Patent for the exclusive use of them. Without this security I could not, in justice to myself, let my machines be introduced into the States.

" Major l^utler was kind enough to hand a Petition for me to Congress, and has promised that if I send a model of my Machine, I shall obtain a Patent.

" I was in Charles Town in the Summer to meet General Butler there. The business could then have been settled, but that I could not make the model in Charles Town. I had, however, such papers executed as the law relative to Patents requires ; and having taken the liberty of sending them, with the model of the Machine, to your care. Major Butler has promised to bring the matter forward for me again, and to use his influence in promoting its success.

"The only motive I can urge for troubling you with the care of this Model and these Papers is the probability that Major Butler may not be at Philadelphia. Perhaps I gratif}' a secret vanity at the same time, and I am conscious of a high pleasure in the opportunity it affords me of expressing my gratitude for your former Patronage, and the kindness I have so often met with from you.

" If I succeed in this business I expect, in the prosecution of it, to have to go to Philadelphia, when, to thank you personally will not be my smallest pleasure. " I remain, with high esteem, dear sir,

What the precise character of this machine was, and whether or not Mr. Eve obtained a patent for it, we are not advised. It would appear, however, from this letter, that this "machine for the separating of seed from cotton" had not only been in use among the cotton planters of the Bahama Islands sexeral years before Whitney perfected and introduced his invention, but that it had also attracted the notice of cotton growers in the Southern States.

In the centennial edition of the Augusta C/ironicle, appeared an interesting article from the pen of Mr. Salem Dutcher, entitled "William Longstreet, inventor of the steamboat." On the 1st of February, 1788, the General Assembly of Georgia passed an act securing to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet, for the term of fourteen years, the exclusive privilege of using a newly constructed steam engine, the product of their joint invention. In a letter addressed to Governor Edward Telfair, and now of file in the archives of this State, Mr. Longstreet, under date Augusta, September 26th, 1790, refers to his steamboat, and asks executive assistance and patronage in his efforts to per-

In the teeth of many obstacles Mr. Longstreet continued his experiments; and, having in 1806 accumulated means sufficient for the purpose, constructed a steamboat according to his own ideas and successfully navigated it in the Savannah River.

" From the reference here to ' the different essays he has made,' taken in connection with the letter above quoted of 1790, it is quite likely that the statement of his having successfully operated a steamboat on the waters of the Savannah in 1806 is correct. If so, he is indubitably entitled to the honor of being the inventor of the steamboat, Robert Fulton's successful trial trip up the Hudson, in the Clermont, dating from August 7, 1807. If Mr. Longstreet's boat was not on the water till 1808, so that Fulton is entitled to the credit of having first operated the invention, the honor of excogitating the idea of steam navigation is still with the former, since, as we have seen, he receives a patent from the Georgia Legislature in 1788, and in 1790 mentions the steamboat by name as an invention of his, then well known, and it was not until 1790 that Robert Fulton left the United States for Europe in order to perfect his education. After his return to the United States he became acquainted with Chancellor Livingston, who had paid great attention to the subject of steam as a motor, and in 1798 obtained from the New York Assembly the exclusive right to apply it to the propulsion of vessels. From this time Fulton began, in conjunction with the chancellor, a series of experiments which culminated in the Clermont, in 1807.

" Considering that something over nineteen years elapsed from the time of the Georgia statute up to Fulton's final experiment, and that Longstreet never relinquished his idea in all that period, but constantly kept it before the public, it is not at all improbable but that in that prolonged period intelligence of the ingenious Georgian's idea extended throughout the then Union. In fact, we know that in 1789 John Stevens made some experiments toward steam navigation in New York, and that in 1790 John Fitch is said to have put a species of steamboat on the Delaware; circumstances tending to show Longstreet's idea had been noised abroad.

"This, of course, is but inference; but, however it may be, one thing in the history of steam navigation is perfectly well established, and that is that in 1788 William Longstreet, of Georgia, had conceived the idea of the steamboat, and either before, or about contemporaneously with, the famous trip of the Clermont, had, by the mighty agency of steam, made a vessel walk the water like a thing of life."

When the census of 1791 was taken, Richmond county had an aggregate population of eleven thousand three hundred and seventeen. Of this number four thousand one hundred and sixteen were slaves. Columbia county had not then been carved out of the territory of Richmond.

By the census of 1801 the population of Richmond county is returned at five thousand four hundred and seventy- three, while that of Columbia county is fixed at eight thousand three hundred and forty- five.

In Sibbald's Notes a}id Observations 07i the Pine Lands of Georgia} - a rare and an interesting tract, - we find the following description of Augusta as the town appeared at the close of the last century:

" Augusta is situated upon the southwestern bank of Savannah River, latitude 33.40, on a beautiful and extensive plain. It is one hundred and twenty miles northwest of Savannah. The town is regularly laid out in streets crossing at right angles.^ The principal street, called Broad street, running nearly east and west, is a handsome, well built street, one hundred and sixty- five feet wide, and has a row of trees for nearly a mile on each side. On this street there are upwards of one hundred stores filled with all the necessary manufactures of the Northern States, of Europe, the East and West Indies. This city, in point of riches, is equal to any of the same size in tlie United States. The other streets are sixty-six feet wide, except Greene street, which is one hundred feet wide. There are many handsome, well built houses on them. In the rear of the town a street has been laid out three hundred feet wide, in the middle of which an academy, containing a center building forty-five by thirty-six feet, and wings thirty-three by one hundred feet, is now building. This building is ornamental with a cupola, and may be said to be the most elegant building of the kind in the Southern States. It is intended to accommodate one hundred and fifty students.

" Upon a line with it, fronting another square, a brick building is now erecting for a Court- House, upon a handsome and convenient plan. This street is intended to be ornamented with trees for a Public Walk. There are also a Church, Methodist Meeting- House, a large Stone Goal, a Market-House, and two Ware-Houses for the Inspection of Tobacco. No Town ever rose into importance with such rapidity as this Town has. In the year 1785, on the spot where the Town stands, there were only ten houses. There are now three hundred and four houses, and it is fast increasing in buildings, commerce, and every kind of improvement. It has the advantage of a most beautiful situation, and enjoys a good climate, good water, and is surrounded by fertile land. It will, one day, rise to a degree of importance. It was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature approved January 31, 1798."

preparation of this Memorial Volume end. We have endeavored, from all .available sources of information at command, to furnish a truthful narrative of ev^ents, military, political and social, and to present a faithful history of the fortunes and development of Augusta during the first sixty-five years of her existence.

The curtain rose upon a feeble trading post, quite isolated, and located upon the extreme verge of European colonization in Georgia. It descends upon a thriving town, claiming a population of some two thousand, conducting a lucrative commerce with an extensive circumjacent territory, and advancing rapidly in civilization and wealth. The clouds which overshadowed the settlement and darkened its progress during the Indian wars, and the storms which shattered its houses and rendered desolate its streets during the protracted and sanguinary contest between Revolutionists and Royalists, have all been dissipated. An era of steam and of assured prosperity is at hand. Competent men are earnestly striving for the honor and the expanding welfare of the community. Among those who then guided and stimulated public affairs, and attended to the business of law, of politics and of commerce, the names of Abraham Baldwin, George Walton, Edward Telfair, William Few, John Twiggs, Wade Hampton, Samuel Hammond, Thomas Gumming, Thomas Glascock, Freeman Walker, Nicholas Ware, Seaborn Jones, Elijah Clarke, Robert Watkins, Benjamin Few, and others scarcely less prominent, are well remembered. And among them - at that time unknown to fame but inspired with a brave ambition to excel - is an Irish boy, poor and a stranger, destined in after years as a lawyer, an advocate, a statesman, and a man of letters to reflect credit upon his adopted home, and in his pathetic lines

Original Plan of the City - The Old Town - Limits Enlarged in 1780 - Government by -Commissioners - Augusta's Loyal Element - The Captured Cannon - Augusta the State Capital - Trustees of Augusta - Limits Enlarged in 1786 - Charter of 1789 - Popular Discontent - Charter Withdrawn - The Yazoo Freshet.

THE history of Augusta from its settlement in 1735 to the close of the eighteenth century is previously narrated in this work by one entirely competent to the task. The city was incorporated in 1798, and its his-

As has been stated. Augusta was first settled in 1735, and while General Oglethorpe's primary object was to establish a trading post and frontier fortress for the new colony, there is reason to believe that he looked forward to more permanent results, and anticipated that Augusta would, in time, become a thriving city in the up-country as a counterpart to Savannah, near the coast. For several years after the establishment of Georgia, General Oglethorpe was the governing authority in the province, and seemed to aim at permanence in all he did. Thus, while fully armed with the royal authority to take possession of the new country, he relied, like Penn, fully as much on native consent as on kingly sanction, and made it one of his first endeavors to win over the Indians to a peaceful occupation of the soil by the whites. This was all the more necessary, since, after many bloody collisions, it had been agreed between the settlers of South Carolina and the savages, that the River Savannah was to be the dividing line between the red man and the pale-face. To the west of that river, no white man, even for trade or hunting, was to set his foot. The settlement of Georgia was, consequently, an infraction of this treaty ; and seeing that the settlement to be permanent, must be either by arms or negotiation, General Oglethorpe, at his landing, persuaded the Indians to a new treaty whereby the white man was to be allowed to settle along the western bank of the river. The same prudent foresight marked the general's course in the establishment of towns. From the specimens of early plats which survive, they seem all laid off on the same plan, namely, in broad, straight streets, intersecting at right angles, and having the lots intended for public purposes on one side the square, with an extraordinarily wide space or parade in front. In a word, the plan is that of a camp, as might have been expected from Oglethorpe's profession. While no written record remains of the fact, it is beyond question that Augusta was originally laid off on this plan. So thoroughly convinced is Colonel C. C. Jones, the eminent arch^ologist of Georgia, of a plan of the city having been made by General Oglethorpe that he made most careful search in the British Museum and British colony office for the original when abroad some years since, but unfortunately without success. The reader has but to cast his eye, however, on the present map of the city, to see that the contour of the municipality still retains the original idea of its founder. The limits of the first settlement are not now precisely ascertainable, but, on a plan of the city made about 1784, and still in existence, a certain portion of its present area, bounded by the Savannah River on the north, Elbert street on the east. Green on the south, and Washington on the west, is denominated " the Old Town," and this is, in all probability, the original Augusta. What adds to this probability is that, midway between Elbert and Washington lies a street which, from time immemorial, has been called Centre street, a name

- which would have no relevancy unless it were, so called as having originally bisected the town. To corroborate this, we have a provincial act of 1768 which establishes "a ferry from the centre of the town of Augusta, upon Savannah River, to the bluff on the opposite shore, in the province of South Carolina," and Sherwood's Gazetteer says the ferry ran just where the bridge was afterwards built, to wit : at the foot of Centre street. We may, therefore, say that Augusta was originally bounded by Elbert, Greene and Washington streets, and the river. This gave three streets running at right angles to the river, namely, Washington, Centre and Elbert; and three running parallel to the river, to wit : Greene, Ellis and Reynolds, the names of the latter two being those of the early royal governors, being an additional evidence of the antiquity of this part of the city.

It does not appear what form of municipal government prevailed at this early day, but, as the population numbered several hundred soon after its first settlement, and, at certain seasons, there was an extraordinary influx of Indians, there must have been some kind of local authority. The first distribution of Georgia into political subdivisions was into two counties, namely. Savannah county, comprising all north of Darien, and Frederica county comprising all south of that point, each county being under the supervision of a president and four assistants. This threw Augusta in Savannah county, and the local government was, doubtless, conducted by the commandant of the fort, under the orders of the president and assistants of that county. Some years later the colony was divided into eleven districts, namely, Abercorn and Goshen, Acton, Augusta, Darien, Ebenezer, Joseph's Town, Little Ogeechee, Medway, Savannah, Skidaway and Vernonburg. In 1750 the trustees ordered a colonial assembly of sixteen members to be chosen, each district to be represented in proportion to' its population, and, on this apportionment, the Augusta district sent two members, evidencing a considerable increase in its population.

In 1758 the districts became parishes, the district of Augusta becoming the parish of St. Paul, the act making this change providing that "from and after the seventeenth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, the church erected in the town of Augusta, with the cemetery or burial place thereunto belonging, shall be the parish church and burial place of St. Paul." The same act empowered the churchwardens and vestrymen to assess rates for the repair of churches, the relief of the poor, and other parochial services.

In 1780 the limits of Augusta were enlarged, and we begin to see the germs of a regular municipal government. By act of that year it was recited that " the vacant land above and below the town of Augusta, lying on Savannah River on the north, and joining the common in a line with the south street of the town running parallel with the river, and joining land of McCartan Campbell on the west, and Andrew McLean on the east, ought to be laid out into lots and sold for the use of this State, in order to enlarge the limits of the said town;" and thereupon it was enacted "that five commissioners be appointed by this house, and the said commissioners so appointed, or any three of them, are hereby empowered to lay out the said vacant land in lots of one acre each, and also to lay out proper streets, and to arrange them with the others in the said town of Augusta, and the whole shall be included and called Augusta." This act appears to have extended the town limits to Lincoln street on the east, and to Jackson street on the west. The duties that devolved on the commissioners were numerous and important. They were directed to sell the lots at public sale, for one-half cash and the balance on twelve months' time ; no person, however, to be allowed to purchase more than one lot, and each purchaser to be required to give good security to settle and build upon his lot within two years after purchase. They were also directed to straighten the streets, which seem to have been encroached upon, and to make "the road on either side, up to Rae's Creek and down to the Sand Bar," conform to the streets. On one of "the public lots in Broad street" they were to build a court-house and jail, and were to reserve the other " for houses of public seminaries and schools." They were to superintend the construction of all new houses, and see that they were at least twenty by sixteen feet, and if of wood, "framed and built in a workmanlike manner," and all houses were to be placed on such part of the lot as the commissioners should direct," to the end that the said town may be regularly built. They were also directed to reserve " two of the best lots in the centre line of the said town, and distant from each other, for houses of public worship," and to " lay out two acres of ground in the common south of the said town for public cemeteries, each opposite the respective lots, and to cause the same to be cleared and fenced in." The act made sundry other provisions, which afford internal evidences of Augusta being, even at this early date, a point of recognized and growing importance. All suits at law were to be heard and determined there ; all criminal trials were also, to be had there ; all lots not built on and improved in the course of two years after the passage of the act were to be forfeited to the State, and sold 'out to such purchasers as would build ; and no burials were to take place within the town limits. The references in this act to the lots of the original town aftbrd still further proof that Augusta was originally laid out on some settled and recognized plan. The commissioners appointed to carry out the act were William Glascock, George Walton, Daniel M'Murphy, John Twiggs and George Wells, and this body of city fathers would doubtless have done good work for the town but for the pendency of the war between the king and the colonies, and the bloodshed and havoc which marked the struggle. In and about Augusta the dogs of war did their worst, and so ruthless and sanguinary was the combat that the famous Revolutionary soldier General Lee - "Lighthorse Harry," - says in his memoirs, "in no part of the South was the war conducted with so much barbarity as in this quarter." With the approach of the Revolution two parties developed themselves in the town. One favored the king, and sent him a loyal address, assuring him of their affection and support. The other side took the old Continental view of the question. It is pretty clear that at first the monarchical sentiment was very strong. Georgia was in some respects a colony of peculiar environments. The other provinces had been established for motives of ambition or pecuniary gain, but this had for its origin the desire of the crown to furnish comfortable homes for distressed Englishmen who from debt or misfortune had no future in life. In 1730 Viscount Percival, a benevolent nobleman, General Oglethorpe, a veteran officer who afterwards rose to be ranking general in the British service, and a number of other philanthropic gentlemen petitioned King George II. for a charter of incorporation " as a charitable society by the name of the corporation for the purpose of establishing charitable colonies in America." The petitioners stated "that the cities of London and^ Westminster, and parts adjacent, do abound with great numbers of indigent persons who are reduced to such necessity as to become burdensome to the public, and who would be willing to seek a livelihood in any of his majesty's plantations in America if they were provided with a passage and means of settling there," and went on to say that petitioners were willing " to undertake the trouble and charge of transporting all such persons and families, provided they may obtain a grant of lands in South Carolina for that purpose, together with such powers as shall enable them to contract with persons inclinable to settle there and to receive the charitable contributions and benefactions of all such persons as are willing to encourage so good a design." In order to understand this reference to a grant of land, in South Carolina, it must be borne in mind that prior to the founding of the colony of Georgia, the province of South Carolina extended westward "to the South Seas," it being the belief at that period that some vast body of water lay far inland of the continent. His majesty referred the petition to the Board of Trade, which in December, 1730, reported back in favor of granting the prayer of petitioners. The report says : " We are of the opinion his majesty may be graciously pleased to grant to the petitioners and to their successors forever, all that tract of land in his province of South Carolina lying between the Rivers Savannah and Alatamaha. to be bounded by the most navigable and largest branches of the Savannah and the most southerly branch of the Alatamaha, with the islands in the sea being opposite to the said land." It was also recommended that this terfitory should be erected into a separate colonial government, and that the society should have power to make laws and appoint officials therein, subject to the allowance and approval of the crown. On the coming in of this report it was amended so as to make the new province extend Avestwardly to the South Seas, so as to include all the islands within twenty leagues of the coast, and so as to prohibit the grant of more than five

On June 9, 1732, the king, by his letters patent, incorporated Viscount Percival, General Oglethorpe, and their associates by the name of ."the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia in America," and granted them the territory and powers above mentioned. The work of establishing the new colony at once began. General Oglethorpe himself headed the first ship load of emigrants, and the king sent a special letter of instructions to Governor Johnstone of South Carolina, setting forth that whereas the trustees had petitioned the crown to notify him of their charter, "that all due countenance and encouragement should be given for settling the said colony;" therefore, he was to register said charter among the archives of his province, and "to give all due countenance and encouragement for settling of the said colony of Georgia, by being aiding and assisting to such of his majesty's subjects as shall come into the said province of South Carolina for that purpose." Anthony Stokes, the royal chief justice of Georgia from 1769 to 1783, gives a lively picture of the favor and protection extended this particular colony by the crown. He says: "Georgia continued under the king's government to be one of the most free and happy countries in the world. Justice was regularly and impartially administered; oppression was unknown; the taxes levied on the subject were trifling; every man that had industry became opulent. The people there were more particularly indebted to the crown than those in anyother colony; immense sums were expended by government in settling and protecting that country; troops of rangers were kept up for several years the civil government was annually provided for by vote of the House of Commons in Great Britain and most of the inhabitants owed every acre of land they possessed to the king's free gift; in short there was scarce a man in the province that did not lie under particular obligations to the crown. As a proof of the amazing progress that Georgia made, I should observe that when Governor Reynolds went to that province in 1754, the exports did not amount to /"30,000 a year, but at the breaking out of the Civil War they could not be less than i^200,000 sterling." We have the figures of the colonial tax levied for a number of years which go to show that taxation could not have been onerous, and that, judging from the ratio of increase, the colony must have been rapidly growing in wealth and population. The figures are:

With the above data before us, we can see why the loyal sentiment was strong in Augusta, as throughout Georgia, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary struggle. The people had been kindly treated by the British Crown. None of the embroilments and quarrels which had embittered the colonists against the king in other provinces had taken place in Georgia. Prior to the bloodshed at Lexington, the revolutionary sentiment was very evidently quite weak in Georgia, and even after the first clash of arms was heard, the spirit of loyalty was still strong. Out of this fact grew acts which afterwards resulted bloodily for Augusta. In Augusta, as in Savannah, was formed an order or association called Liberty Boys, devoted to the American cause. The Augusta branch paid special attention to expelling such members of the community as were supposed to favor the royal cause, and were, in particular, exceedingly severe on one Thomas Brown. Brown was a native of Augusta and seems to have been a man of fixed views and determined courage. On his escape lie joined the British and, being possessed of great native military ability, soon rose to high command in the service. Scarcely had the above mentioned act 1780 been passed and the municipal board organized thereunder, when a British force under the command of Brown, then Colonel Brown, of his majesty's service, took possession of the town. His resentment was written Augusta in letters of blood and fire. After a prolonged and desperate struggle, elsewhere narrated, he was captured with all his forces, and British domination in Augusta ended. Three of the cannon taken on this occasion are still to be seen in the city. One is in possession of the artillery company, and occasionally used in firing salutes; a second surmounts the grave, in the city cemetery, of a Revolutionary soldier; and the third is half imbeded in the soil at the corner of Ellis and Mcintosh streets. Why it is placed there no man seems to know, but the probabilities are that it marks the location of the tower whence the Americans poured down a fire into Fort Cornwallis. the last British stronghold in Augusta, which swept its garrison from their guns and compelled its surrender.

After the expulsion of the British, the General Assembly of Georgia again convened in Augusta, at that time the seat of the State government, and, in an act passed in 1 782' we find a moving picture of the times. While not so stated in so many words, the scene was doubtless taken from what had occurred in

Augusta. After stating that many citizens of Georgia had "been guilty of treason against the State, and the authority of the same, by traitorously adhering to the king of Great Britain, and by aiding, assisting, abetting, and comforting the generals and other ofificers civil and military of the said king, to enforce his authority in and over this State and the good people of the same;" it went on to say that " said treasons had been followed with a series of murders, rapine, and devastation as cruel as they were unnecessary, whereby order and justice were banished the land, and lawless power established on high, exhibiting the melancholy picture of Indians inflicting dreadful punishments on both old and young of the faithful and peaceful citizens of this State; women and. children sitting on the ruins of their houses, perishing by famine and cold ; whilst others were compelled, in the midst of a rigorous season, to depart the State, being previously plundered of both their and their children's clothing, and every other necessary that might tend to mitigate the uncommon severities exercised on the softer sex and their innocent babes. Nor was this all, whilst these days of blood and British anarchy continued among us, and commanded executions of our citizens, taken in arms in defense of their invaluable rights, to take place, executions as unauthorized by the laws of nations, as they were cruel in themselves, and only to be exceeded, if possible, by the abandoned profligacy of setting torches to temples dedicated to the service of the most high God, whereby they completed a violation of every right human and divine."

Fired by the very recital of these wrongs the act proceeds, in the nature of a bill of attainder, to proclaim as traitors a long list of persons, not forgetting Colonel Thomas Brown, the author of the miseries of Augusta. They were commanded to leave the State, under penalty of death if they returned, and their property was sequestrated and ordered to be sold. Some of the land titles of Augusta run back to deeds given under this act by the commissioners of confiscated estates. The recollection of British severity long lingered in Augusta, and we remember to have heard from an aged matron that in her early days she saw a venerable lady, whose cottage, out where the Presbyterian Church now stands, was attacked by the Indian allies of the British, her babe slain and she herself scalped and left for dead. From another mother in Israel we have heard that after the Revolution one Fox, a Tory, settled in Augusta at the corner of Broad and Washington streets - where a marble slab let high into the building, still proclaims it " Fox's Corner," - and, to tlie huge disgust and indignation of the good people of the town, would ever and anon, of a bright, sunshiny day, hang his red coat out of the window, as he alleged simply to sun it, but as the indignant citizens declared, to taunt them with the sight of the hated British uniform once more within rifle shot of the site of Fort Cornwallis. Colonel Thomas Brown, who had wrought such ruin on the town, escaped unhurt after his surrender, though at one time the Continental officers" were compelled to turn out their troops to protect him from the American militiamen who thirsted for his blood. He was sent to Savannah ; there organized a battalion of negro infantry in the British service ; went thence, on the final surrender, to England, and was rewarded for his loyalty with an appointment in one of the West India islands and a gratuity of ^30,000. Not satisfied with this, he surreptitiously affixed the colonial seal to some false grants of land, and was convicted in London of forgery. Whether he was hanged accordingly does not appear.

But Augusta lost no time in repining. The lots ordered to be sold under the act of 1780 had not been built on; the church had been burned; there was no court-house or academy, but steps were at once taken to build up the waste places. In 1783 the Legislature declared that, while the act of 1780 had not proved effectual, " the same reasons continued for the encouragement and enlargement of the town of Augusta"; and thereupon selected another board of commissioners, appointing William Glascock, George Walton, Joseph Pannel, Andrew Burns, and Samuel Jack as the board. The act then proceeded to forfeit the town lots which had not been built on and ordered the commissioners to expose them to sale anew, one-fourth cash, one-fourth in one year thereafter, and the residue in three years; deferred payments to be secured by mortgage. Every purchaser, as part of the contract of sale was, within two years from date of purchase, " to build, or cause to be built, a tenantable brick, stone, or frame house, not less than sixteen feet by twenty-four," on his lot, under penalty of the same reverting to the State. Particular and special attention was also given to the erection and endowment of an institntion of learning. After building a church, and reserving a sufficiency of land for public purposes, all the other lots were to be sold and the proceeds used to establish and maintain a seminary. This is the origin he Richmond

Academy, an institution which still exists, and is the olde seat of learning in the United States with the exception of Yale, Harvard, d Princeton.

The act of 1783 constituted the board of commissioners of Augusta trustees for all the purposes mentioned in the act, namely the improvement of the town and the erection and support of the academy, but did not in express terms confer general powers of municipal government. In 1786. however, another act was passed which did so. It provided that "tiie board shall have power to carry into execution in the town of Augusta, the same regulations and powers as the commissioners of the town of Savannah may lawfully do there." The acts of 1780, 1783, and 1786 therefore operated, when taken together, as a sort of charter for Augusta ; and up to the year 1798, when the charter of the present city was granted, Augusta, with a brief exception, whereof more hereafter, was governed by a board of commissioners. This board, as we learn from an act passed in 1835, was considered as being in reality made up by two bodies, or rather, had two sets of powers, one as trustees of the town of

Augusta and the other as trustees of Richmond Academy. This act of 1786 made another alteration in the hmits of Augusta, the trustees being directed to add another row of lots on the south side of the town, which seems to have extended Augusta to the present Telfair street. Edward Telfair was governor in this year, 1786, whence, no doubt, the name given to the new street.

In 1789 the Legislature incorporated Augusta and Savannah in one and the same act, the earlier statutes of Georgia being frequently a sad farrago of all sorts of subjects. A bill seems to have been regarded as a sort of sausage into which legislators were at liberty to cram all kinds of material. This evil, it may be here remarked, finally led to the rule that a law should relate to but one subject matter, which has been adopted from Georgia into the constitutions of almost all the other States. The act of 1789 incorporated the town of Savannah as the city of Savannah, but left Augusta still a town; and for some reason, probably because the good people of Augusta of that day resented this inferiority in title, the charter of 1789 found little favor. True, it gave Augusta a mayor and board of aldermen, as it did Savannah, but even this placebo did not heal the first affront. The people took offense at the act itself and every part and parcel thereof Its very phraseology seems to have become obnoxious, and when Augusta did become a city the charter studiously provided that the chief executive of the municipality should be styled not mayor, but " intendant," and intendant it remained till 18 17. As to alderman, that word was also scoured, and has never been the official designation of an Augusta city father from that day to this. In 1841, a half century afterwards, anact was passed to create a board of aldermen in Augusta, but in the very next year was incontinently repealed. " Member of Council " is now, and has, for nearly a century, been the only legal official appellation.

It is unfortunately the case that the text of this act of 1789, so far as relative to Augusta, does not appear in the statute book, and we are therefore, unable to give the terms of this unpopular charter. It appears, however, that the mayor and aldermen therein provided for were to be appointed, not elected, and that no appointments were made for some years, and that, in the meantime, the government by board of trustees continued. In 1790 the trade of Augusta with South Carolina had increased to such an extent that it became necessar}' to have a bridge over the Savannah ; and, the trustees having surrendered their ferry right in his favor, the Legislature granted Wade Hampton the right to construct and maintain a toll bridge from the foot of Centre street to the Carolina shore. The grantee was to keep up a bridge of at least sixteen feet in width ; was to pass the master, teachers, and scholars of the Richmond Academy free ; was to pay the trustees an annual rent of £so, and charge only the tolls set out in the act, which were the same as the old ferry had charged. Among the items appear a couple which present a curious picture of the times, to wit: " for every rolling hogshead witli two horses, and drawn, one shilling and two pence ; for every rolling hogshead with one horse, and drawn, one shilling." In those days tobacco was a staple in Georgia and South Carolina, and Augusta was a notable inspection point. By law the hogshead was not to exceed forty-nine inches in length, and thirty-nine inches in the head, and was to weigh at least nine hundred and fifty pounds nett. They were very stoutly coopered, and fitting a sort of axle to them and shafts or pole, the planter trundled them along the road to market after the fashion of a huge garden roller.

In 1 79 1 we find that " the Mayor and Aldermen to be appointed for the Corporation of the Town of Augusta," were made ex-officio commissioners of court-house and jail.

In 1 794 occurs another instance of the rivalry of the time between Augusta and Savannah. The latter place had two fire engines, and desired a fire company chartered. Augusta having but one engine, at once purveys herself another, and has that incorporated as the Augusta Fire Company. The original by-laws of this venerable organization are still preserved. One article is that the members are to dine together every Fourth of July ; each member was to provide himself at his own expense with a white oil cloth cover for his hat, lettered with the company's name, also two fire buckets, and " four bags, each containing three yards of strong Osnaburgs, and drawn at top with a suitable cord," buckets and bags to be similarly lettered. The buckets were to put out fires ; the bags to save goods. There was to be a monthly inspection of buckets and bags, and any dereliction in this particular met a fine of five dollars. The company was to meet, buckets in hand, at the engine-house, at sun rise, on the first Saturday of each month to clean the engine. The officers bore commissions from the governor, and when on duty carried white wands six feet long, and lettered as above.

In this same year, 1794, the mechanics of Augusta became an incorporated company under the name of " The Augusta Association of Mechanics." The act states that they had petitioned for a charter, because " desirous of placing their various crafts on a more social footing than heretofore, and of establishing, by their united exertions and contributions a lasting fund for the relief and support of such of their unfortunate brethren, or their families as are, or may become objects of charity." The petitioners are stated in the act to be William Longstreet, president; John Catlett, vice-president; Thomas Bray, secretary; Robert Creswell, treasurer, and Hugh Magee, William Dearmond, Baxter Pool, John Cook, Joseph Stiles, Angus Martin, John Stiles, Hiel Chatfield, Edward Primrose, Conrad Liverman, and Isaac Wingate.

In 1795 so much of the act of 1789 as chartered Augusta as a town with a mayor and aldermen was repealed, the act stating that " experience hath proven that so much of the act is deemed incompatible with the interest and the wishes of the inhabitants thereof" The act proceeded to say " and it shall be the duty of the mayor and aldermen now in office, under said act, and they are hereby required to adjust, and within six months from and after the passing of this act, finally to settle and close the books and accounts of the corporation, and to deposit the same, together with the funds thereof, with the commissioners of the court-house and jail, to be appointed for the county of Richmond who shall hold such property, real and personal, as may have been acquired by the said corporation, in trust, for and to the use of the said town of Augusta and the inhabitants thereof, provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the collection of the corporation tax already levied, which sums shall be deposited with the commissioners aforesaid."

With the repeal of the charter of 1789, the government of Augusta reverted to the board of trustees, as we find by act of the next year, 1796, which directed "The Trustees of the Town of Augusta," to do a number of things for the good of the place. Among other things they were to rectify an inconvenience growing out of the extraordinary width of Broad street in the original plan of the town. It has been already mentioned that the original Broad street extended from Washington to Elbert, and was laid off by Oglethorpe as more of a parade ground than a street, being three hundred feet wide ; and that, in extending Broad street east to Lincoln street, and west to Campbell street, the act of 1780 required that width to be preserved, it not being until 1784 that the width was reduced to one hundred and sixty-four feet.

This direction seems to have been complied with only so far as the extension east was concerned, the extension to Campbell street being made much narrower. In laying out the town below Lincoln under the act of 1786, Broad street was also narrowed, so that in 1796 the original portion of that street was sixty-four feet wider than it was above or below. To add to the confusion, the street on its south side was straight its entire length, the inequality being wholly on the north side. To remedy this, the north side lots were extended sixty-four feet into the street. The same act gives some interesting information respecting the "Yazoo Fresh," as it is called from occurring the same year as the Yazoo Fraud, or that memorable land speculation which occupies such a space in the history of Georgia. The act says :

" Whereas, The aforesaid Town of Augusta hath latterly sustained considerable injury by the inundation of an extraordinary flood of water in the Savannah River, and which was considerably heightened on account of the direction of the current immediately against the town, for remedy whereof, Be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the trustees of the aforesaid town of Augusta, within eight months from and after the passing of this act, under such scheme, regulation, and restrictions as the said trustee may deem most expedient fully to effect the end of erecting and completing one or more sufficient pier or piers, in such part or parts of the river as will, in their judgment most effectually divert the current of the same from off the said town ; provided, that such piers shall not obstruct the navigation of the said river."

This Yazoo freshet swept away the bridge, but, as usual, the people of Augusta lost no time in idle lamentations. An act was immediately passed directing it to be rebuilt.

Augusia Incorporated - Charter of 1798 - Thomas Gumming, P^irst Intendant - City Limits - Rise of the Cotton Interest - Whitney and his Gin - Price Current of 1802 - Intendant Murray^ Intendant Hobby - Intendant Flournoy - Intendant Catlett - Assize of Bread -^ The Steamboat of 1808 - Intendant Hutchinson - Intendants Walker and Jones - Governor Matthews - Beards President Adams - Intendant Leigh - Panic of 1814 - Intendant Called Mayor - Mayor Freeman Walker Becomes United States Senator - Mayor Ware becomes United States Senator - Mayors Reid and Holt - La Fayette's Visit - Mayor Hale

ABOUT 1796 it became apparent that the device of a board of trustees appointed by the Legislature would no longer suffice for the government of the town. In 1797 the Legislature itself declares that a full board was such a hindrance to business that thereafter a majority of members should constitute " The board of trustees for the academy and town of Augusta."

Finally, by act of January 31, 1798. the town ceased to be a town, and was recognized and chartered as a city. This instrument was skillfully and carefully drawn, and is still the organic law of the city. It begins, as is usual with these old-fashioned acts, with a preamble expressive of why it was passed.

" Whereas, From the extent and population of the town of Augusta, its growing importance, both with respect to increase of inhabitants and diffusive commerce, it is indispensably necessary that many regulations should be made for the preservation of peace and good order within the same ; and

" Whereas, From the many weighty and important matters that occupy the attention of the Legislature at their general meeting, it has hitherto been found inconvenient, and may hereafter become more so, for them to devise, consider, deliberate on, and determine all such laws and regulations as emergencies, or the local circumstances of the said town, may from time to time require ;

" Be it therefore enacted. That from and immediately after the passing of this act all persons citizens of the United States, and residing one year within the said town, and having a freehold or lease for years of a lot within the same or the village of Springfield, or between the said village and town, shall be deemed, and they are hereby declared to be, a body politic and corporate, and the said town shall hereafter be called and known by the name of THE CiTY OF AUGUSTA, and shall be divided into the following districts, to wit : All lots situate below the cross street running from the river Savannah, between the markethouse and the house of Mrs. Fox, to be called and known as district number one ; all the lots between said street, and the cross street running from the said river, between the house of Mr. Andrew Jones, and the house occupied by Collin Reed and Company to be called and known by district number two ; and all the lots above that street, including the village of Springfield, shall be called and known by district number three."

We may pause here to remark that this much of the act throws a strong light on the limits of the city in 1798. The village of Springfield was located about where the upper market formerly stood, that is, at Marbury street, and by the act of 1783, as will be remembered, the western boundary of Augusta was at or about Jackson street. This left an intervening space between the town and village, answering to the area now comprised between Jackson and Cumming, or possibly Kollock street. This space, as well as the village of Springfield, then a few houses and a negro church, was included in Augusta, so that the act chartering the city also extended its limits to Marbury street.

In speaking, in his sketch "The Gander Pulling," of Augusta in 1798, Judge Longstreet, author of " Georgia Scenes," says: "Those who are curious to know where Springfield stood at the time of which I am speaking, have only to take their position at the intersection of Broad and Marbury streets, in the city of Augusta, and they will be in the very heart of old Springfield. Sixty steps west and as many east of this position will measure the whole length of this Jeffersonian republican village, which never boasted more than .four dwelling houses; and Broad street measures its width, if we exclude kitchens and stables." And again : " In 1798 Campbell street was the west- verge of Augusta, a limit to which it had advanced but a few years before, from Jackson street. Thence to Springfield led a large road, now built up on either side, and forming a continuation of Broad street. This road was cut across obliquely by a deep gully, the bed of which was an almost impassable bog, which entered the road about one hundred yards below Kollock street on the south, and left it about thirty yards below Kollock street on the north side of now Broad street. It was called Campbell's Gully, from the name of the gentleman through whose possessions and near whose dwelling it wound its way to the river."

The form of government established by the charter was this : the first and third districts were to elect two members each ; the third district was to elect three ; these members were out of their own number, or from the citizens at large, to select an intendant of the city, and the intendant and members were to be known and styled by the name of " The City Council of Augusta." Any person elected intendant and refusing to serve was to forfeit the sum of thirty dollars to the city; a member of council refusing was to pay twenty dollars. Elections were to be annual, and only freeholders or leaseholders were competent to vote or hold office. The powers of the council extended to making any " by-law or regulation that shall appear to them requisite and necessary for the security, welfare, and convenience of the said city, or for preserving peace, order, and good government within the same," and they were empowered " to make such assessments on the inhabitants of Augusta, or those who hold taxable property within the same, as shall appear to them expedient." These franchises have been found so ample that the city, even in the long tract of ninety years has found little occasion to apply to the Legislature for extension of its authority. They have also been found flexible enough to meet all the varying exigencies of that long period. The early restrictions on municipal suffrage have long been removed ; the intendant is now called mayor ; the districts are called wards, and new ones have been added ; but, in all its essential and substantial parts, the charter of 1798 is still the fundamental law of the city. The first council consisted of Messrs. George Walker, James Pearre, Robert Creswell, Andrew Innis, Isaac Herbert, and William Longstreet, and Thomas Gumming was chosen intendant. For a few years there is a break in our municipal records, but, beginning with 1803, we have a complete list of the chief magistrates of the city to date. From the opening of the nineteenth century, the history of Augusta is that of a steady and continuous development, despite war, flood, conflagration and fever. As if, in her early days, she had had her quantum of hostilities, the actual tramp of contending forces was never heard in her streets, nor was the torch ever applied to her houses. Such sufferings as she had were reflected, and her history during this period, while interesting, is not marked by any of the terrible and bloody incidents of her early days.

In 1 79 1 the entire export of cotton from the United States was but 189,- 500 pounds, all told, or about 379 bales; but, at that time, an inventive genius was at work on a machine destined to revolutionize the fictile industries of the world. Eli Whitney was born in Westburough, Mass., on Decembers, 1765, and, after completing his education at Yale, came to Georgia, with a view of entering the legal profession. He made his home with the widow of General Greene, the Revolutionary hero ; and, as tradition has it, had his attention directed by that lady to the subject of a machine for preparing cotton for market. In those times the seed was laboriously and imperfectly separated from the lint by hand, and Mrs. Greene seems to have foreseen that important results would follow a speedier process. Young Whitney worked out the idea, and in 1793 received a patent for his famous cotton gin. His experiments were made in and near Augusta, and about two miles south of the city is still to be seen the dam used by him to run his works.

Sometimes it is said that Wiiitney is not the real inventor of this device, but purloined the idea from its original author, the statement being that a citizen of South Carolina constructed a gin toward the close of the eighteenth century, and that Whitney, surreptitiously gaining access to his workshop, carried off the plan and constructing a machine patented it as his own. This stor\' is told with great circumstantiality, and the house in which the machine was originally constructed is said to be still standing within sight of Augusta, in Hamburg, on the left hand side of the road, just as you cross the Savannah River bridge.

The contemporaneous history of Whitney's times, however, shows pretty clearly that he is really the inventor. The patent was issued him in 1793, and by act of December 19, 1801, (5 Statutes South Carolina, page 427) the Legislature of South Carolina purchased from him the right to use his patent in that State for the sum of $50,000.

In the Augusta Herald of December 30, 1801, the editor mentions the passage of this act, and says: " In the course of the negotiations between the Legislature of South Carolina and the patentee, we understand that every satisfactory evidence of the originality of the invention was produced, and its principles so fully explained by the ingenious inventor that little or no diversity of opinion existed as to the propriety of making the contract."

Now, if Whitney had really robbed a citizen of South Carolina of the invention, it is hardly likely that the Legislature of that very State would, but eight years after, have permitted him, as against one of its people, to profit by the wrong. The statement, just quoted, that during the negotiations between Whitney and the Legislature, " every satisfactory evidence of the originality of the invention was produced," seems to justify the inference that some question may have been raised, but if so, the Legislature was so fully satisfied on investigation of Whitney's right, " that little or no diversity of opinion existed as to the propriety of making the contract."

The strength of this contemporaneous testimony can hardly be overcome, but, if more were needed, we find it in two acts of the Legislature of Tennessee, one passed in November, 1803, and the other in September, 1806 The act of 1803 is modeled on the South Carolina statute of 1801, save that the price .igreed on was but $35,000; and in 1806, in order to make the act of 1803 more fully operative, there was passed "an act to carry into effect a contract between the State of Tennessee and Eli Whitney and Phineas Miller." The preamble to this act also indicates that some question was made as to Whitney being the real inventor, and shov\s that, a second time, the issue was found in his favor, reading thus :

"Whereas, it has been made to appear to the satisfaction of this General Assembly that Eli Whitney, from whom this State purchased the patent right of a machine for cleaning cotton, commonly called the saw gin, is the true inventor of said machine, therefore," etc., etc.

The new invention at once gave a tremenduous impetus to the cotton interest. As early as 1796 the Legislature of Georgia passed " an act for the inspection of cotton," a sure proof of the product being, even at that day, regarded as a staple. In 1798 another act was passed to encourage cotton manufactures, and in the next year Governor Jackson informs the General Assembly, in his annual message, that " the article is rapidly advancing to the head of American exports, and that Georgia cotton is taking the lead in most foreign markets."

At the September term, 1800, of Richmond Superior Court, the grand jury say in their general presentments: "The article of cotton having become a principal staple of this State, in the packing and bagging of which considerable frauds have been committed, to prevent which we recommend legislative interference."

From this presentment it is quite clear that, as early as iSoo, Augusta was quite a cotton emporium. As to the complaints of false packing, it is not unlikely that, in the then infant state of cotton culture and preparation for market, much of what is put down as deception was really due to ignorance. It adds to this view that the complaint was not confined to Georgia, since we read in an Augusta paper of September 25, 1800, that the merchants of Charleston appointed a committee to consider how to protect the credit of South Carolina cotton, which committee reported that they found no inspection law necessary, but would recommend an act requiring that the name of the producer and the locality where raised be stamped upon the bags.

We have already stated that in 1791, two years before the invention of the gin, the entire export from the United States was but 189,500 pounds, or about 379 bales, all told. For the year ending October i, 1800, the export from Georgia alone was 3,444,420 pounds, or 6,889 bales.

In 1802 a Liverpool price current quotes Georgia sea island cotton, 26 and 35d; upland, 14^ and 15. In 1806 the Augusta quotation was 15 and I5f cents; in 1808, it was 12 and 13; in 1810, it was 10 and iii; figures intimating a rapid increase in acreage and yield. The development of this staple gave a great impetus to Augusta. Huge warehouses were erected, and foundations, broad and deep, were laid of the immense cotton business the city now possesses.

One of the events of 1800 in -Augusta was the death here of the admiral of the American navy during the Revolutionary War. In the Augusta Herald, under date of July 16, 1800, we read this:

"Died, on Friday last, of a violent billious remittent fever. Commodore Oliver Bowen. As a mark of respect for the services rendered by him in the American war his remains were interred the next day with military honors, by the Augusta Volunteer companies of Infantry and Rangers."

This ancient worthy, one of the few naval heroes of the Revolution, lies buried in St. Paul's churchyard in Augusta, where his tomb may be still seen.

The schedule of the Augusta and Savannah stage coach hne of this period is as follows : Leave Augusta, Saturday 7 A. M. ; arrive at Savannah on Monday at 9 A. M., fifty hours to the one hundred and thirty-one miles; fare nine dollars, with fourteen pounds baggage ; all over, seven cents per pound.

The fervor of the spirit of '']6 at this time is something remarkable. The Fourth of July was one of the institutions of the country. The military fired salutes, the orator of the day exhausted rhetoric in adulation to " Columbia," and the toasts at the banquet were something astonishing, as witness these choice extracts: "The Day - may it always frown on Royalty;" " May the wing of liberty never lose a feather;" "The American Eagle - may she hold out her olive branch to all men, so long as consistent with her dignity and honor, but not a moment longer." Rather a curious contemporaneous exposition of the sex of the national bird.

We find that Augusta had a Tammany Society, and that this toast is given at its annual dinner: " St. Tammany, the tutelary saint of America ; may his example teach us to prefer death to the loss of liberty."

In 1805 William J. Hobby was intendant. This gentleman was long a resident of Augusta; carried on the business of a stationer and journalist, and was for years editor of the Herald.

In 1806 General Thomas Flournoy was intendant. He was one of the commissioners who ran the boundary line between North Carolina and Georgia, and during his term of office quite a breeze of war agitated Augusta. The Chesapeake was fired into by the Leopard and forced to pull down her flag- The American vessel was not cleared for action and fired but one gun, that being discharged by a coal which an officer took with his fingers from the cook's galley. The indignation throughout the country was intense, and President Jefferson declared it unequaled by anything that had occurred since the firing on the militia at Lexington in 1775 Captain John Neilson of the Augusta Rangers, and Captain George W. Evans, of the Augusta Independent Blues, tendered their services to the president, who responded in a handsome letter of thanks.

In 1808 John Catlett became intendant, and the city council gave a curious exhibition of their powers, passing an ordinance to prescribe an " assize of bread," providing that when flour was six dollars per barrel, the twelve and one-half cent loaf should weigh two pounds and nine ounces; and the six and one-fourth cent loaf, one pound and four ounces. If of fine flour, the weights were to be two pounds and thirteen ounces, and one pound and six ounces. In this year Mr. William Longstreet, who as we have already seen, was president of "The Augusta Association of Mechanics," operated a steamboat on the Savannah River opposite Augusta. As early as 1788 the General

Assembly had given him a patent on an invention of this kind, and in 1790 he reports to the governor that he is making satisfactory progress in perfecting his discovery. Mr. Longstreet also operated successfully a steam cottongin and saw-mill in Augusta long before this date. The evidence is very strong that the honor of the invention of the steamboat belongs to him. In the Augusta press of this date we also find mention of another invention which seems to have been the germ of the sewing machine. " It consists of a small wheel and pinion, a spindle, a fly to conduct the thread on the broach, and a temper pin to regulate the velocity of the broach, beside a rock-head on which the raw material is fixed. The whole machine is worked by a handle."

From 1809 to 181 1 Joseph Hutchinson was intendant. He was the first clerk of the city council of Augusta, and under his administration the city limits were enlarged and defined, and some useful regulations made. A new row of lots was added to the city on the south side of the city, parallel to Telfair street, and the new street was named Walker, after Freeman Walker, afterwards the first mayor. On January 13, 181 1, Augusta was visited with an earthquake, the vibrations continuing till July.

In 18 1 2 James S. Walker served as intendant for a portion of the year. Seaborn Jones filling out his term, and being chosen intendant in 181 3 for the full term. Mr. Jones was a lawyer of eminence, and long prominent in public affairs. He was one of the board of trustees of Augusta in 1790, and in 1825 during the Indian disturbances in Upper Georgia, was one of the commissioners charged with their settlement.

In 1 8 12 Governor Matthews died in Augusta. He was a soldier of distinction in the Revolution, and by his undaunted courage made his regiment, the Ninth Virginia, one of the best in the Continental service. At the battle of Brandywine, this regiment and one other stood firm amid the first disastrous rout, and thus enabled Washington to rally the rest of his troops. At Germantown Governor Matthews attacked the British with such fury as to put their best grenadiers to flight, and captured an entire regiment. The governor was very proud of his military record, and used to swear that he and George Washington had saved the country. He was twice governor of Georgia, and during his last term signed the Yazoo Act. Tradition says that his secretary, who was violently opposed to the bill, dipped the governor's pen in oil so it would not write, and his excellency was compelled to cut a new quill before he could append his name. Notwitstanding his signature of the bill. Governor Matthews was always popular, the people feeling he was a rough, uneducated soldier, who had been overreached by the land speculators lobby. In person this eccentric executive was short and stout, red faced and fair- haired. His head was thrown back a la game cock, and no man on earth was his superior but George Washington. Once the Legislature had some doubts of his election. "What are these fellows about," quoth he, "that they do not let me know they are" organized and ready to receive my message." His secretary replied they were discussing his election. "By the Eternal ! " said the governor, "if they don't recognize me, I'll cut an avenue from this office through them ! " After Governor Matthews's second term President Adams nominated him for governor of the Mississippi Territory, but withdrew the nomination.

The governor at once set out for Washington, in top boots, huge ruffles at wrists and breast, and a long sword at his side. On his arrival in Philadelphia, then capital of the United States, he made directly to the president's house, hitched his horse, and gave a thundering knock at the door, his revolutionary sword at his thigh, and three-cornered cocked hat on his head. On the servant opening, he demanded to see the president. The answer was that the president was engaged. Quoth the governor to the lackey, " I presume your business is to convey messages to the president. Now, if you do not instantly inform him that a gentleman wishes to see him, your head shall answer the consequences." The servant reported that a strange old fellow was at the door who would take no denial. "Let him in," said Mr. Adams, and in strode the governor in a towering rage. " I presume you are Mr. Adams, president of the United States." The president bowed. " My name is Matthews, sometimes called Governor Matthews; well known at the battle of Germantown, however, as Colonel Matthews of the Virginia line. Now, sir, I understand that you nominated me in the Senate of the United States to be governor of the Mississippi Territory, and that afterwards you took back the nomination. Sir, if you had known me, you would not have taken the nomination back. If you did not know me, you should not have nominated me to so important an office. Now, sir, unless you can satisfy me, your station as president of these United States shall not screen you from my vengeance." Mr. Adams forthwith set about the pacification, and soon satisfied the simple-hearted old man no insult was meant him. To cement the good understanding, Mr. Adams promised to appoint his son to a Federal office in Georgia, the governor complacently remarking, " My son John is a man about my inches, with the advantages of a liberal education, and for his integrity I pledge my head." In i8l I Governor Matthews was commissioned by President Madison to compose some disturbances with a number of men who had thrown off the Spanish yoke in Florida. Misunderstanding his instructions, he made a formal treaty with them, which Mr. Madison disavowed. Once more in high dudgeon the governor set out for the capital to see the president ; but old age, the fatigues of his journey, and his terrific state of excitement prostrated him at Augusta, where he died in 1812, and is buried in St. Paul's Churchyard.

In 1 8 14 Joseph Hutchinson served another term as intendant. The benefits of experience in office were again demonstrated, as in this year we find further legislation looking to the improvement of the city, the surveyor-gene- ral being directed to lay off new streets, and remark the lines of old ones, that the invariable policy of the city from its foundation, to have its streets wide, straight, and regularly built upon, should be maintained. ,

In 181 5 and 18 16 Walter Leigh was intendant. In the earlier portion of his administration considerable distress prevailed in mercantile circles. The War of 18 1 2 ended suddenly, and many merchants who had laid in stocks at the inflated war prices, calicos at one dollar per yard, and salt at three dollars per bushel, were ruined. The development of Augusta as a municipality, however, kept on. In 1816 a new range of lots on the south side of Walker street, and running the entire length of the city was laid out, and the new street on which it abutted was called Watkins, after Robert Watkins, an eminent lawyer of the Augusta bar, and compiler of " Watkins's Digest," the earliest compilation of Georgia laws.

In 18 1 7 Freeman Walker was chosen intendant. By act of this year the style intendant was changed to mayor, and Major Walker was chosen mayor in both 1818 and 18 19. The portrait of this gentleman is to be seen in the mayor's office, in the gallery of pictures of the city's chief magistrates for" nearly eighty years back, and his handsome, intelligent face and laughing eye bear out the tradition of his wit and eloquence. He is said to have been one of the mad wags whose pranks are related in the famous " Georgia Scenes," and to be the original of Freeman Lazenby in the laughable " Wax Works " sketch. He was a lawyer of fine abilities, was distinguished for his eloquence in Congress, and served in the United States senate from December 8, 18 19, when he resigned the mayoralty of Augusta to accept that position, to November 21, 1 82 1, when he resigned from the senate. Walker county is named after him. In 181 8 Augusta was extended from Springfield to Hawks' Gully

In 1 8 19, 1820, and 1821 Nicholas Ware was mayor. On the resignation of Major Walker in 18 19, in order to enter the United States Senate, Mr. Ware was chosen to succeed him and served until November 21, 1821, when he, in turn, resigned the mayoralty in order to enter the United States Senate, it being a curious coincidence that Mr. Ware succeeded Major Walker in both the mayoralty and the senate. Mr. Ware served in the senate from November 10, 182 1, to his death, November 4, 1824. It is not often that any city furnishes from its mayoralty two United States senators in succession, but such, in this case, is the remarkable record of Augusta. It remains to add that both these distinguished citizens had the honor of having counties named after them. Ware county, created in 1824, having been named after one, and Walker, organized in 1833, after the other.

During the administrations of Mayors Walker and Ware there was legislation of importance to the city. The intendant became the mayor ; the qualifications of voters that they should be freeholders or leaseholders, was repealed, and it was only required they should have the qualifications requisite to vote for a membeB of the General Assembly, and have resided twelve months in the State and six months in the city preceding the election ; the election of mayor was taken from council and given to the people.

In 1823 Robert Raymond Reid was elected mayor of Augusta and reelected in 1824. Mr. Reid was born in South Carolina in 1789, but early removed to Augusta and was admitted to the bar. At the age of twentyseven he was made judge of the Middle Circuit, and then served in Congress from 18 18 to 1822. At the close of his last term became mayor ; was then reappointed judge of the Middle Circuit; then became judge of the City Court of Augusta ; in 1832 was appointed by President Jackson United States district judge in Florida; in 1839 was appointed by President Van Buren governor of the Territory of Florida, in which office he died in 1841.

In 1825 and 1826 another celebrated judge, William W. Holt was elected mayor of Augusta. For very many years after his mayoralty Judge Holt sat on the bench of the Middle Circuit, the very embodiment in learning and severity of the old English common law justice. He was deeply learned in his profession and strove always to ascertain and apply the law, holding the scales of justice inflexibly even. During his mayoralty the famous election excitement of Troup and the Treaty swept over Augusta, as over the State. The casus belli was whether a treaty made by Governor Troup with the Indians, touching a cession of Cherokee Georgia, should stand, or give place to one negotiated with them by the United States government. Governor Troup and General Clark were the opposing candidates for governor. The contest was close : Troup, 20.545 ; Clark, 19,362 - Troup's majority, 683 ; and the temper in which it was conducted may be gathered from a couple of toasts given at the time. It was said Governor Troup had Indian blood in his veins, and in allusion to this a Clark partisan proposed this sentiment : " General John Clark - a former trouble to the Indians, a present trouble to some of their kindred." Up sprang a " Troup and Treaty " man with the quick rejoinder : " George M. Troup - may every hair on his head be a standing army, and every soldier be armed with a thundering cannon to drive his enemies to h - 11."

During Mayor Holt's time LaFayette visited Augusta. After a tour through the North, General LaFayette landed at Savannah on March 19, 1825, and was met by Governor Troup, who, pursuant to a joint resolution of the General Assembly, was there to welcome him as the guest of the State. As the general stepped on shore, the governor addressed him as follows : " Welcome, LaFayette. 'Tis little more than ninety years since the founder of this State first set foot on the bank on which you stand. Now four hundred thousand people open their arms to receive you." After the welcome Governor Troup accompanied him to Augusta, which he reached a few days after arriving in Savannah, and was received with great ceremony. A procession met him at the steamboat landing, as follows : "Music; chief marshal and staff; committee of arrangements; a marshal; detachment of hussars; General La- Fayette in a phaeton drawn by four horses ; son and suite of General LaFay- -ette in a barouche drawn by two horses ; troop of hussars ; a marshal ; clergy, officers and soldiers of the Revolution ; a marshal ; general officers and staff; -citizens in carriages ; a marshal ; citizens on horseback ; a marshal ; music ; United States artillery; volunteer battalion ; a marshal; citizens; a marshal."

The mounted men rode four abreast ; citizens walked six abreast. The procession moved from the bridge through Centre street to Greene, and up Greene to the city hall, where the visitor was welcomed by the mayor ; thence lie was escorted through Washington and Broad streets to the apartments prepared for him at the Planters' Hotel. As the marquis landed, Colonel William -Cumming. chairman of the committee of arrangements, welcomed him. Then Mr. DeLaigle, on behalf of the French citizens of Augusta, addressed him in French, to which the marquis replied in the same language. A delegation from Alabama then invited him to visit that State, and finally the mayor formally welcomed him to Augusta. The marquis being a Mason, was addressed by John W. Wilde, grand commander of Georgia Encampment No. i. A banquet followed, at which the distinguished visitor was toasted as follows : " The man whose sovereignty is above that of kings - LaFayette, who reigns in the hearts of a whole people." Then came a grand ball, after which the marquis departed for the State capital. The military companies of Augusta at this time were Richmond Hussars, Captain Boisclair; Georgia Fencibles. Captain W. W. Holt ; LaFayette Riflemen, Captain Caldwell ; Hamilton Riflemen, Captain Cumming; Irish Volunteers, Captain Cormick, and Georgia Blues, Captain McKinne.

In 1827, in which year the Savannah River was frozen over, Samuel Hale -was elected mayor and continued to be re-elected each year till 1837. Mr. Hale was a successful merchant*, and his long administration is memorable in many ways. Augusta had had two notable industrial epochs before - the rise -of the cotton industry about 1800, and the advent of the steamboat in 18 17, the Enterprise, of Savannah, coming up the river in that year; and in 1833, -during Mayor Hales's time, the railroad put in an appearance. The first one constructed in America was the South Carolina road, from Charleston to Hamburg, opposite Augusta. It was begun in 1830, and by July, 1833, was completed and in running order. Its stock, which, up to that time, had been a in the market, rose to 105. The fare from Hamburg to Charleston, one hundred and thirty-six miles, was $6.75, with seventy-five pounds baggage ; for less distances, five cents per mile. By November, 1833, the company had «ix engines, the " Best Friend," having four wheels and costing $4,000 ; " West Point," four wheels, costing $3,250; and the " South Carolina," " Charleston," ^'Barnwell," and " Edisto," all with eight wheels and costing, the first $5,000 and the others $5,750 each.

The success of this enterprise at once stimulated Augusta. A public meeting for July 20, 1833, to consider of a railroad from Augusta to Athens, the original of the now far-famed Georgia *Railroad, was called by Samuel Hale,. W. W. Montgomery, James McLaws, William T. Gould, and J. P. King. At the meeting Messrs H. H. Gumming, W. W. Montgomery, James Harper, James W. Davies and William C. Micou were appointed a committee to organize a company.

Similar meetings were held in various portions of the State; and, from this time out, the railroad became a fixed fact. In 1836 the locomotive whistle was invented; in 1839 the South Carolina trains left Hamburg at six A. M. and reached Charleston at three P. M. ; rate of speed, fifteen miles per hour; fare, $10. The same year the Georgia Railroad only reached from Augusta to Greensboro, leaving Augusta at six P. M. and arriving at Greensboro at one A. M. ; speed, twelve miles per hour; fare, $4.25. During the same long administration troubles occurred in Florida and Texas, in the former with the Seminoles and in the latter with the Mexicans. The president called for thirtyfive hundred men to march against the Indians, and, as usual, the Augusta companies came to the front ; the Richmond Hussars put seventy sabers in the field, and the Richmond Blues marched out one hundred and six strong. As they marched out Washington street on their way to Savannah the town assembled to see them off. There were volunteers also for Texas, and when at the fall of the Alamo the famous Davy Crockett was slain, the Augusta paper gave him a curious and yet touching eulogy, which may here be reproduced :

" Colonel Crockett - all flesh is grass, saith the preacher, and as the flower of the field, it passeth away. It is even so. He that came off victorious from a hundred contests with the stern chieftains of the forest ; at whose approach the bear and panther shook with afright. and the deer and buffalo fled as from the messenger of death - the redoubtable Crockett is no more. Fallen is- Alamo! Fallen is the hero of Tennessee! The places which have known him shall see him no more - the halls which have re-echoed with the thunders of his eloquence are silent, and the wildcat and the alligator no longer tremble at the sound of his carabine. The victor is overthrown, the champion is dead. He has gone ahead of his competitors to that land from whose bourne no traveler returns. May he rest in peace."

Under the administration of Mayor Hale a question of jurisdiction which had rankled to the injury of the city since 1798 was finally satisfactorily adjusted It will be remembered that prior to the grant of the charter the municipal government had been in the hands of a board of commissioners who were at once trustees of the town and of the academy. When the city council was organized to administer the municipal government the trustees of the academy still claimed title to all the commons. This the council disputed, and^ by act of 1835, ^^^ trustees were directed to convey the commons to the city on terms agreed on between the two. All that part of the city west of Campbell street was erected into a new district, or ward, number four; the fire department materially strengthened, Augusta having been devastated by a great fire in 1829; and the military companies encouraged. It may also be noted that during this administration the famous " Georgia Scenes " appeared ; most of the sketches being located by Judge Longstreet in and about Augusta.

In 1837 John Phinizy was elected. This venerable citizen lived to the advanced age of ninety- four, and died only a few years since. To the last he retained his mental faculties unimpaired, and but a short time before his death gave some interesting testimony before the United States Senate Committee on education and labor, which we here reproduce :

" I was born in Oglethorpe county, Ga., in 1793, very near the Indian line. The country was sparsely settled, and there were almost as many Indians as whites. I recollect that the Indian chief used to ride me on his knee. They were a very honest and well disposed people ; far more so than the negroes. But the white people wanted their lands, and therefore drove them out of the country. I came to Augusta in 1800, riding here in a sulky with my father. We had no carriages or buggies in those days. I had never seen any la.rgecollection of houses, and looked upon Augusta as the biggest place in the world. Soon after I came here I was sent to Franklin College, at Athens, Ga,, now the State University, and graduated in 181 L I am the only living representative of that class. I cannot give you much positive information about the cotton crop in the first part of the century, a'3 I was so young at the time, but I recollect that it was not thought much of and very few planted it. About 1810, I think, I used to see small wagons coming to town with a bale of cotton, two or three barrels of flour, and a hogshead of tobacco, revolving on a sort of axis, pulled along behind. There was far more tobacco made in this section then than cotton. One planter, who made 20,000 pounds of seed cotton, was thought to be doing a wonderful thing. The seed was either picked out by hand or pushed out by rollers, aud the neighbors used to gather at each other's houses to help in getting out tlie seed. I own the place now where Whitney made his first experiment with the cotton-gin. He built a dam across a small stream and ran the gin by v/ater. The dam is standing to this day, and the water of the stream turns an improved gin. Large quantities of tobacco, made in the vicinity, were brought to Augusta during the first quarter of the century, but it soon gave way to cotton. Now there is no tobacco made about here. It was about 181 1 that cotton first began to come into prominence, and its cultivation increased very rapidly. In 1818 I had a large cotton warehouse myself. A long wooden building, that cost one thousand dollars to build, rented for eighteen hundred dollars the first year. Centre street was so packed with cotton wagons in i8-i8 that at times it was completely blocked. The average yield of cotton to the acre at that time was about the same as now, but the planters used no fertilizers. Everybody had now learned to make cotton and very little else was thought of Property in Augusta, and especially near the cotton warehouses, increased rapidly in value. These are about all the points I could give you in regard to the early history of cotton in this section."

In 1837 Augusta's cotton receipts were one hundred thousand bales. In 1838 Mayor Hale served another term, and was succeeded in 1839 ^Y Alfred Gumming, afterwards governor of Utah. During Mayor Cumming's term Augusta had a severe visitation of yellow fever, there being from fifteen hundred to two thousand cases and two hundred and forty deaths. A fuller account of this epidemic appears elsewhere in this work. In 1840 Dr. Daniel Hook was mayor, and in 1842 served another term. In 1 841, 1843, 1844 and 1845 Martin M. Dye was mayor. During Mayor Hook's first term Augusta was visited with a terrible freshet, the worst then known since the terrible overflow of 1796, called the "Yazoo Fresh." On May 28th the Savannah River rose thirty- five feet above low water mark. Broad street was from two to ten feet deep, and floated forty bale boats. Some one thousand bales of cotton were swept away, and between $500,000 and $1,000,000 damage done. A house containing^ a woman and her four children was swept away. All perished but one little girl. The captain of a Petersburg boat chased the house three miles, and finally saved tht child, almost exhausted, but still clinging to her pet dog.

During Mayor Dye '5 first term the main office of the Georgia Railroad Gompany was moved from Athens to Augusta. At this time also was passed the famous " Algerine law," as 1^ is termed. This was an act to provide a sort of upper house for the city council in the shape of a board of aldermen, two from each ward. The sting of the act lay in the fact that no one was eligible to be, or to vote for, an alderman unless he owned one thousand dollars' worth of real estate or had paid at least twenty-five dollars city tax. In 1842 the act was repealed. During Mayor Dye's administration the Augusta Ganal was commenced. The first survey was made in the fall of 1844, ^"^ in May, 1845, the work was begun. The plan of the canal was to be five feet deep, twenty feet wide at the bottom and forty feet at the surface of the water. The total length was nearly seven miles, and on November 23, 1846, the water was let in. Some of the citizens of Augusta resorted to litigation to stop this public work, but the courts decided against them, finding the authority of the city council to undertake such enterprises in the chartt^r of the city. At this time Augusta had a population of 7,502, and its trade, relatively speaking, was immense. There were twelve large warehouses capable of containing 70,000 bales, and three new ones were begun. The wharfage front was 2,500 feet, and had cost $150,000. The river and wagon trade was enormous, and, in 1845, the cotton receipts ran to the unprecedented figure of 212,019 bales.

The revenue from the bridge the same year was $23,678. The foundations of many fortunes were laid at this golden epoch, which is still further memorable as giving the city its first railroad, the Georgia road tapping the city in 1845.

In 1846 and 1847 ^^- Lewis D. Ford, an eminent physician, was mayor of Augusta. In his first term the Mexican War broke out. A regiment was raised in Georgia, and in this regiment went the Richmond Blues, one hundred and five strong, this being the same gallant command as had volunteered in the Florida War. The city council gave fifteen dollars per man towards fitting out troops. In Dr. Ford's second term, the pioneer of the city's now numerous cotton manufactories, " The Augusta Cotton Mills," was organized. The portrait of Dr. Ford is to be found in the mayor's ofiice. He was a man of patriarchical appearance, and his heart was kindness itself

Mayors Garvin, Miller and Dearing - Central Railroad Comes in - Mayor Conley - Mavor Blodgett - Augusta Waterworks - The War Opens - Capture of Augusta Arsenal - Georgia's Wonderful Prosperity in i860 - First Regiment - Augusta's Volunteers - Her Dead - Confederate Monuments - Ladies' Memorial Association - The Salt Famine - Speculation - Gunpowder Works - Fury and Suffering of the War - Confederate Money - Lee's Surrender - Riot of 1865 - Mayor May - Military Rule - Mayor Gardiner - Military Mayor - Reconstruction - Mayor Russell - Mayor Allen - Mayor Estes - Enlargement of Canal - Mayor Meyer - Mayor May - Vast Extension of Corporate Limits - Freshet of 1888 - Exposition - Augusta's Double Tax - Retrospect - Proud Record of a Century and a Half

IN 1848 Dr. Ignatius P. Garvin was elected mayor. He, also, was a physician of eminence, was professor in the medical college, and about this time edited the Southern Medical atid Surgical Jo?irnal in conjunction with the celebrated Dr. Paul F. Eve, who subsequently removed to Nashville, Tenn. In 1849 James B. Bishop was mayor ; -" 1850 and 185 1, Thomas W. Miller ; and in 1852 and 1853, still another physician. Dr. William E. Dearing. This gentleman was one of the most accomplished herpetologists that ever lived in the United States. His knowledge of the nature, habits and species of the serpent tribe was wonderfully accurate and extensive, and it is greatly to be regretted, in the interests of science, that he did not commit his fund of information in this wierd and yet interesting field to book form.

In 1854 Abner P. Robertson was mayor, and this year is memorable for a yellow fever epidemic, of which we speak more at large elsewhere in this work, and for the tapping of the city by the Augusta and Savannah Railroad^ now known more generally by the name of its lessor, the Central. In this year also the city limits were extended so as to take in that extensive tract lying east of the Carnes road and north of South Boundary; and the city council had a controversy with the South Carolina authorities in reference to a claim by certain grantees of that State to collect tolls on the Carolina side, which was decided in favor of the city.

From 1856 to 1858 Benjamin Conley was mayor. Mr. Conley was a successful merchant of Augusta, and, after the war, was for a short time governor of Georgia. During Mayor Conley's first term the registration of voters for municipal elections became the law.